PREPARE THE BRIDE OF CHRIST
URGENT CALL TO PREPARE THE BRIDE OF CHRIST
In a recent dream the Lord gave me I kept seeing a bride and the Lord kept giving me the number 40 with the vision of the bride and a wedding ceremony. As I was dreaming I kept thinking and speaking to the Lord why the number 40, this can’t be personal and for me as I wouldn’t marry someone that much younger then myself.
As I awakened I kept thinking of the number 40 along with the dream the Lord gave me. Through my quiet time, prayer and seeking the Lord He revealed that He was referring to His church and the “Bride of Christ”. I called a friend and was telling them of the dream and as I was telling them the Spirit of the Lord hit me profoundly and I began to weep under the presence of the Lord as His burden for His bride became even more real, prevalent and urgent than ever! We should take heed in the number 40 as it represents such things as the “wilderness” which is testing, refinement, separation, unthankfulness, unrepentant, etc towards the Lord. The Lord revealed that much of his church believes they are already “bride” ready when in fact they are in the wilderness and don’t even know it because they are deceived and bound by pride, self-righteousness and a spirit of delusion and error. The Lord is warning that His bride will soon have experiences and revelations that they are in the wilderness verses the inner court. Wilderness can be for edification, sanctification and spiritual growth even if it is unpleasant but even gold must be purified as the dross must be removed and the Lord is about to allow the wilderness to remove the dross from the hearts of His people. People will bow to the “potter” and realize that they are mere clay in the hands of their Lord and Master.
Proverbs 25:4 (AMP)
4 Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth [the material for] a vessel for the silversmith [to work up]. [II Tim. 2:21.]
My prayers have been very focused for the “remnant and bride” of Christ and to prepare the bride for the return of the Lord. We all know the parable about the 10 virgins and the wedding ceremony in Matthew 25. My spirit is grieving for the Lord as the bride is not ready and many are following the traditions and systematical organizations of men and religion verses the Spirit of the Lord. Sin and ungodliness have been embraced in the hearts of people which is a mockery and perversion of the power of the Blood of Jesus and power of the Spirit of the Lord. The hearts of many are failing them as they deny faith unto sanctification, holiness and the righteousness of Christ Jesus. We are witnessing Jesus own words in Luke 18.
Luke 18:6–8 (AMP)
6 Then the Lord said, Listen to what the unjust judge says!
7 And will not [our just] God defend and protect and avenge His elect (His chosen ones), who cry to Him day and night? Will He defer them and delay help on their behalf?
8 I tell you, He will defend and protect and avenge them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [persistence in] faith on the earth?
The bride is not willing to “pay the price” for the wedding ceremony which is the price of sacrifice such as laying down/dying to the worldliness, “old carnal nature” and seeking sanctification and holiness unto the Lord. Too many are embracing the fallen nature instead of crucifying the “old man” and living the resurrected life of Christ as in Galatians 2:20! Telling people you are “only human” is an excuse not to seek the Lord’s mercy and grace unto sanctification. The same faith unto salvation is the same faith unto sanctification! While it is true that we are human isn’t it true Jesus was human also for Jesus had to come as a man to justify and redeem mankind. None of us are exempt from temptation in this fallen world however are we to deny the finished work of Calvary and the Blood of Jesus because of the fallen nature we were/are redeemed from?
1 Corinthians 11:28 (AMP)
28 Let a man [thoroughly] examine himself, and [only when he has done] so should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
1 Corinthians 15:21 (AMP)
21 For since [it was] through a man that death [came into the world, it is] also through a Man that the resurrection of the dead [has come].
Romans 5:17 (AMP)
17 For if because of one man’s trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God’s] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
Romans 6:1–14 (AMP)
WHAT SHALL we say [to all this]? Are we to remain in sin in order that God’s grace (favor and mercy) may multiply and overflow?
2 Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?
3 Are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious [power] of the Father, so we too might [habitually] live and behave in newness of life.
5 For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death like His, we shall also be [one with Him in sharing] His resurrection [by a new life lived for God].
6 We know that our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with Him in order that [our] body [which is the instrument] of sin might be made ineffective and inactive for evil, that we might no longer be the slaves of sin.
7 For when a man dies, he is freed (loosed, delivered) from [the power of] sin [among men].
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9 Because we know that Christ (the Anointed One), being once raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has power over Him.
10 For by the death He died, He died to sin [ending His relation to it] once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him].
11 Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not sin therefore rule as king in your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies, to make you yield to its cravings and be subject to its lusts and evil passions.
13 Do not continue offering or yielding your bodily members [and faculties] to sin as instruments (tools) of wickedness. But offer and yield yourselves to God as though you have been raised from the dead to [perpetual] life, and your bodily members [and faculties] to God, presenting them as implements of righteousness.
14 For sin shall not [any longer] exert dominion over you, since now you are not under Law [as slaves], but under grace [as subjects of God’s favor and mercy].
Galatians 2:20 (AMP)
I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
People are following methods, other people and FALSE gods which are idols of their hearts. While even “methods” may have a measure of success that success is often our own efforts and will of the flesh which is not surrendered to the Lord. Just because methods have success doesn’t mean the Lord is in the method! Much of the church/body will not acknowledge nor engage in the spiritual warfare to protect, deliver and uphold the sanctuary of the Lord and “popularity” and notoriety has replaced the Glory and presence of the Lord Jesus. The lack of spiritual discernment and ungodly covenants/agreements has blinded many into following “charisma” verses Christ.
The Lord brought Ezekiel 8 to my attention of the abominations in the temple of the Lord! The Lord is grieving for the purity and holiness of His bride and yet there is sin without repentance, spiritual adultery/fornication, idolatry and much more taking place in the sanctuary of the Lord. We must remember that the Lord will NOT dwell in what human hands/works has made! Hearts of professing believers (not followers) are not submitted to Christ nor do they exhibit evidence of spiritual fruit. Talking the talk is not walking the walk. Just as the hearts of the religious leaders would not turn towards the Lord thus the Lord turned over the tables and ridded HIS church of what was not of the Lord so it will be again. The Lord has brought people to speak correction, holiness and sanctification only to be mocked, ridiculed and persecuted by professing believers/followers of Christ. We must not forget that judgment starts in the house of the Lord.
Acts 7:48 (AMP)
48 However, the Most High does not dwell in houses and temples made with hands; as the prophet says, [Isa. 66:1, 2.]
Ezekiel 8:1–18 (AMP)
AND IN the sixth year [of the capitivity of King Jehoiachin], in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house [a captive of the Babylonians] with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me.
2 Then I beheld, and lo, a likeness of a Man with the appearance of fire; from His waist downward He was like fire, and from His waist upward He had the appearance of brightness like gleaming bronze.
3 And He put forth the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heavens and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the door of the inner [court] which faces toward the north, where was the seat of the idol (image) of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. [II Kings 16:10-16; 21:4, 5.]
4 And behold, there was the glory of the God of Israel [Who had loved and chosen them], like the vision I saw in the plain. [Ezek. 1:28; 3:22, 23.]
5 Then He [the Spirit] said to me, Son of man, now lift up your eyes toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, on the north of the altar gate was that idol (image) of jealousy in the entrance.
6 Furthermore, [the Spirit] said to me, Son of man, do you see what they are doing? The great abominations that the house of Israel is committing here to drive Me far from My sanctuary? But you shall again see greater abominations.
7 And He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall.
8 Then He said to me, Son of man, dig now in the wall. And when I had dug in the wall, behold, there was a door.
9 And He said to me, Go in and see the wicked abominations that they do here.
10 So I went in and saw there pictures of every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel, painted round about on the wall.
11 And there stood before these [pictures] seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan [the scribe], with every man his censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense was going up [in prayer to these their gods].
12 Then said He to me, Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his [secret] chambers of [idol] pictures? For they say, The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.
13 He also said to me, Yet again you shall see greater abominations which they are committing.
14 Then He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz [a Babylonian god, who was supposed to die annually and subsequently be resurrected].
15 Then said [the Spirit] to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? Yet again you shall see greater abominations that they are committing.
16 And He brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house; and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the bronze altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were bowing themselves toward the east and worshiping the sun.
17 Then [the Spirit] said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too slight a thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here, that they must fill the land with violence and turn back afresh to provoke Me to anger? And behold, they put the branch to their nose [actually, before their mouths, in superstitious worship]!
18 Therefore I will deal in wrath; My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. [Prov. 1:28; Isa. 1:15; Jer. 11:11; 14:12; Mic. 3:4; Zech. 7:13.]
The number 40 biblically is of great significance and the Lord gave me the number 40 concerning the bride of Christ. The Lord revealed that His bride is in the wilderness, self seeking their own ways and methods and not fully submitted to the Lord and that some are not submitted at all.
Life is but a vapor and time is of the utter importance and salvation is not to be taken lightly for all of eternity weighs in the balance. The Word of the Lord was revealed that His bride believes they are bride ready but the Lord is about to expose much of the church’s true spiritual state and the “wilderness” will become reality very soon to those who falsely believe they are bride ready and prepared for the wedding ceremony! We must choose without faulting whom we shall serve this day and every day as the testing of the bride through the wilderness is soon upon us. I pray for a Damascus encounter for those who believe they are with Christ but are truly lost and that their wilderness encounter will include a “burning bush” of Glory. I pray for the refinement, holiness and righteousness of Christ in His bride for the Lord is worthy of all Glory, Honor and Praise!
1 Chronicles 29:11 (AMP)
11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and the earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and Yours it is to be exalted as Head over all.
We must discern the times we are in and let us hear what the Lord is saying to His church! This is not meant to be judgmental but rather an urgency in preparation for the bride to prepare for the wedding ceremony and for our Bride-Groom Christ Jesus! Many falsely believe that remittance of sin excludes repentance of sin and this is a lie. Both John the baptist and Jesus first spoke of repentance as the Kingdom of God was at hand. There is little spoken today about repentance and if we compare King David with King Saul we see that Saul’s repentance was superficial and not from his heart like David’s repentance. Saul wanted to appear right with people while David wanted to get right with the Lord!
Revelation 2:29 (AMP)
29 He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the [Holy] Spirit says to the assemblies (churches).
Luke 12:56 (AMP)
You playactors (hypocrites)! You know how [intelligently] to discern and interpret and prove the looks of the earth and sky; but how is it that you do not know how to discern and interpret and apply the proof to this present time?
Those who worship the Lord must worship in spirit and truth as they are both one in the same as Jesus is the Way, Truth and the Life! The Lord has spoken and said much of His bride is in the wilderness and not seeking Him in Spirit and Truth! We know that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life so if you are not seeking the Truth are you truly seeking Jesus?
John 14:6 (AMP)
Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.
The Lord is sounding the trumpet of the true prophet and apostolic messengers, let our ears be open to what the Lord is saying as we prepare for the day of the Lord Jesus.
Matthew 23:34–36 (AMP)
34 Because of this, take notice: I am sending you prophets and wise men (interpreters and teachers) and scribes (men learned in the Mosaic Law and the Prophets); some of them you will kill, even crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue and persecute from town to town,
35 So that upon your heads may come all the blood of the righteous (those who correspond to the divine standard of right) shed on earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar [of burnt offering]. [Gen. 4:8; II Chron. 24:21.]
36 Truly I declare to you, all these [evil, calamitous times] will come upon this generation. [II Chron. 36:15, 16.]
Life is a vapor and the winds of destruction/judgment and the wind of life (Spirit of the Lord) are blowing yet many cannot discern the difference as sin, deception and worldliness has veiled their eyes, ears and hearts! It is time to repent and turn back to your first love Christ Jesus and to love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, body and soul. Time waits for no man or woman, for today is the day of salvation.
1 Kings 19:11–18 (AMP)
11 And He said, Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;
12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire [a sound of gentle stillness and] a still, small voice.
13 When Elijah heard the voice, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?
14 He said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and slain Your prophets with the sword. And I, I only, am left, and they seek my life, to destroy it.
15 And the Lord said to him, Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.
16 And anoint Jehu son of Nimshi to be king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah to be prophet in your place.
17 And him who escapes from the sword of Hazael Jehu shall slay, and him who escapes the sword of Jehu Elisha shall slay.
18 Yet I will leave Myself 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.
Revelation 2:4 (AMP)
4 But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love].
Matthew 22:37 (AMP)
37 And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect). [Deut. 6:5.]
Let us each search our own hearts before the Lord seeking the Lord in Spirit and Truth. We must have pure hearts before the Lord for nothing is hidden before the Lord and there is no “secret sin” or ungodly covenants that are hidden from the Lord. Let us be awakened to the urgency of the times we live in and seek Matthew 6:33 the righteousness of Christ Jesus and His Kingdom and His will not ours. It is time for the fear of the Lord to be in the hearts of His chosen and to have no other love placed before the Love of the Lord Jesus.
Isaiah 26:9 (AMP)
9 My soul yearns for You [O Lord] in the night, yes, my spirit within me seeks You earnestly; for [only] when Your judgments are in the earth will the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God).
Psalm 19:9 (AMP)
9 The [reverent] fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
1 Peter 4:17 (AMP)
17 For the time [has arrived] for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will [be] the end of those who do not respect or believe or obey the good news (the Gospel) of God?
Mercy has already triumphed our personal judgment on the Cross of Calvary and redemption is through the Blood and Atonement of Christ Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. Behold, the Lamb of God is also the Lion of Judah!
Awaken the Bride of Christ, repent and return to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
Ephesians 5:14 (AMP)
14 Therefore He says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine (make day dawn) upon you and give you light. [Isa. 26:19; 60:1, 2.]